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Speedway does (or maybe has) actually "punch/punched above its weight" when it comes to TV viewers since Sky started covering the domestic competitions.. 

40,000 or so as a lower end of the viewing audience suggests many still follow the sport, but simply don't see the "live" product as worth attending.. 

40,000 is possibly double an average weekly "live" following in the UK?

Cardiff also shows how many "followers" the sport has with circa 45,000 there each year, with the vast majority UK based..

And it isn't the same circa 45,000 either as many dont attend every single year, yet the crowd levels remain pretty constant, suggesting that there are plenty more followers of the sport out there in total, with, I presume, many being "ex regulars" to domestic Speedway..

Obviously there will be those who attend simply because of the size of the event and their partner, family etc are going, however it does show how many know about Speedway..

It's just getting them to attend a local speedway meeting every week, or even semi regularly, remains the biggest issue to overcome...

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What that tells me is something I have always know, that when something matters enough people will not only watch it on tv in large numbers but as we know from first sight, the play off matches are always very well attended.

And that sums up the state of speedway in this country, the standard matches are just not seen as "can't miss" having fewer and fewer teams in the league does not help.

Ps How many meetings have Eurosport shown thus far? it cant be more than a handful

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There is a whole host of different reasons why someone might watch Speedway but not view it

For example I watch MotoGP but I am not motivated to watch it LIVE really, I watch BSB on and off now but used to be part of the paddock there.

I watch Premier League Football games that involve the club I support and clubs I don't support but the costs of watching my club weekly is something that I cannot afford to do, so people will watch Speedway on TV as they have paid for their subscription, they would not necessarily pay for their TV and then watch live

I watch Darts on/off on occasion but never really would go and watch it live

 

This is what Barry Hearn said about Speedway 

“It doesn’t necessarily need a Barry Hearn, what it needs is someone with my ethics. They have to be passionate about the sport but they have to be business minded. They have to be realistic and they have to graft their nuts off… in those days they were getting good crowds, big crowds at speedway, and I don’t know why the sport is in the demise it currently is. Somewhere along the line, they made a wrong move or didn’t maximise or maybe got complacent. It was easy but now we see a sport that looks to be <sigh> I won’t say it’s terminal decline because they’ll always be hard core pockets of resistance. But would you wanna be a speedway rider? And put your life on the line at all those speeds for nothing? Or for very little? They were household names thirty years ago, famous people, and big crowds at Belle Vue and places like that. People still talk about it and probably because some of the premises are slightly in decline as well they’ve not offered the level of entertainment value today’s consumer wants. And when you couple that all together. Whereas, if something is going higher and higher, it’s quite easy to ride the coattails but it actually works the other way round, it’s really difficult to stop the decline.”

Hearn continues, “motorsports is massive….[so] where did it all go wrong?….the Blazers, while they love the sport, are just not the businessmen of today. If you don’t treat it like a business that’s fine you will still have people who absolutely love it. What’s not fine [is] if that passion is not shared or is not delivered in a package that’s acceptable to today’s consumer [then] that passion is wasted cos you’ll get nowhere…better people than me would have to do market research to say ‘is this a reasonable proposition? Or, are wasting our time?’ It’s a hard decision to take but you either invest or work to take it forward or you give up. What you don’t do is just sit there in a slowly declining market because it’s boring”

 

 

https://www.methanolpress.com/best-worst-speedway-grand-prix-television-viewing-figures-by-year-from-1999-to-2018-plus-average-viewing-figures/

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Why oh why couldn't Eurosport show one of the three premier League meetings from Monday.The olympic games finished over the weekend,belle Vue/ Peterborough was a very close contest as was tigers win at Ipswich,an ideal opportunity lost.it,s not good enough that we have to wait until the 16 th for the next meeting.does anyone agree?

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23 minutes ago, Baldyman said:

Well if its not good enough,,, tell eurosport,, and maybe the will stop showing it altogether.  Or if that doesn't appeal to you,,, start your own broadcasting company, then you can choose what to show and when

So I've got to start my own TV channel, showing a sport that I've re-invented myself, on a track I've got to prepare myself with riders riding machines that I've built myself... and while I'm at it I'll travel to this meeting on a road network I've built myself driving a car I've designed and built myself... etc. etc.

If that's the only reply you can come up with, you may as well not bother 

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49 minutes ago, Moranboys said:

Why oh why couldn't Eurosport show one of the three premier League meetings from Monday.The olympic games finished over the weekend,belle Vue/ Peterborough was a very close contest as was tigers win at Ipswich,an ideal opportunity lost.it,s not good enough that we have to wait until the 16 th for the next meeting.does anyone agree?

The counter argument is that by not showing any matches it meant that myself, my lad, and a fair few others around the country I would think, attended the meetings themselves in person.. 

If any match had been on TV I would have watched it, regardless of which teams were shown, and so would a fair few more I would suggest..

 

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2 hours ago, Moranboys said:

Why oh why couldn't Eurosport show one of the three premier League meetings from Monday.The olympic games finished over the weekend,belle Vue/ Peterborough was a very close contest as was tigers win at Ipswich,an ideal opportunity lost.it,s not good enough that we have to wait until the 16 th for the next meeting.does anyone agree?

How about be grateful for what is shown,,,if they don't show it no one else will

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12 hours ago, Rob B said:

Next 3 weeks are

16 August British Final
23 August Belle Vue v Kings Lynn (terrible matchup)
30 August Wolves v Belle Vue

There will probably be more before play offs start.

23rd Aug could of been Peterborough v Wolves which produced the best meeting so far shown but with the fact they did show the A fixture its understandable not to show the B fixture and the fact it could be a play off or final fixture shown as well .

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13 hours ago, Rob B said:

Next 3 weeks are

16 August British Final
23 August Belle Vue v Kings Lynn (terrible matchup)
30 August Wolves v Belle Vue

There will probably be more before play offs start.

Post saved just in case ;)

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7 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

Post saved just in case ;)

Sadly, you cant even expect great racing at the NSS from what I have seen and read this season...

The outside doesnt seem to have developed at all through the meetings I have seen..

Most passing is on the first lap, first bends, as the rider off gate four flies around the other three and uses that wider radius used to clear off into the distance.. 

Dan Bewley made almost zero ground on Jordan Palin the other night after spending a couple of laps getting into second...

The kerb of bend 4 seems to be the passing place most used with the riders cutting the apex there and then using straight line speed to race their opponent down to turn one underneath them...

 

Edited by mikebv
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49 minutes ago, Moranboys said:

 

Or do you have shares in eurosport

I think Baldy just has shares in realism!

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